Gold Refining Forum.com

Rules sections

Board rules

These rules are disclosed to clarify the various responsibilities of all community members here on Gold Refining Forum.com. They shall be adhered to by everyone to ensure that our board runs smoothly and provides a fun and productive experience for all of our community members and visitors.

Forum Rules

There are a few things that prospective readers should know and understand if they expect to be good members of this excellent forum.

Among Moderators and members alike are educated people and/or those with years of practical experience in the commercial refining field. We all voluntarily provide our knowledge at no cost to readers.

We expect readers to be on their best behavior, thus avoiding confrontations that take energy away from the topics at hand, and to avoid losing good and valuable members. This includes not posting about religion, politics, explosives, potentially illegal activities, or other subjects that could divide members of the forum. They simply create unnecessary and unwanted distractions away from the purpose of this forum - the recovery and refining of precious metals. Understand that accessing the forum is a privilege, not a right, and can be terminated for failure to adhere to board policy.

Profanity, racism, sexism, bad taste, and violent, vulgar, or foul language have no place on this forum. We are intelligent individuals who have the ability to converse without the use of offensive language. We are visited by people of all ages, genders, races, and religions, so please keep your comments clean. Post as if your mother, child or grandchild might read what you say.

Many people who join this forum have developed habits that now come naturally to them, such as using text lingo, or typing in all capital letters. Those habits are not acceptable on this forum. Do not post in all capital letters. It is considered shouting and is difficult to read. Without proper use of upper and lower case letters, chemical formulas cannot be correctly represented. Do not use text lingo (e.g., u instead of you, r instead of are, b4 instead of before, etc.). This forum is international. English is not the first language for many members, so they must use translation software. Text lingo or the use of incorrect grammar could create dangerous confusion. Use the Preview button and try to correct mistakes in spelling and grammar before posting.

Be sympathetic to other members. There will be zero tolerance for personal attacks on the board. If you are at odds with another, feel free to have a polite debate, but temper your words with wisdom. Post your position, doing so by sticking to the subject at hand. Do not make your comments personal in nature. Flaming is not permitted. No one will be allowed to attack the character of another. If you find yourself involved with another reader, and things don't work out as you hope, do NOT make mention in such a way that it can't be addressed by the accused.

Do not "double" post. Try to select the appropriate category when making a post and wait for a response. Any duplicate posts will be deleted and the author of those posts will be reminded of this rule.

Anyone who edits their posts or removes attachments so as to ruin the integrity of the thread or revise the overall tone of the post will be banned pending a Moderators group review.

We do not allow links in your signature line or your post for the purpose of spamming the forum. Offering and soliciting precious metals-related services is acceptable provided it is not done in excess. If you want to sell your services or your wares, and they apply to refining services or related equipment, you can post in the "Refiners, Buyers, Assayers, etc." section.

Choose your board name carefully, keeping the rules above in mind. It should not, in any way, reflect illegal or sexual activities, religion, politics, or be rude or profane. It must NOT contain inflammatory rhetoric, or have bigoted connotations.

Make every effort to stay on topic in a thread and minimize social commentary. Do not use the forum as you would instant messaging like MSN/ICQ. If you want to respond on a personal level the forum has an excellent PM system for personal messages, which don’t have to be read by everyone. And there’s always the “Bar & Grill” section where you can be more social.

Respect the authority of the Administrators and Moderators. If you have a problem with a Moderator, feel free to contact other Moderators or Administration for resolution. Please adhere to the requirements of proper behavior in doing so.

The most important reason to follow these rules may be that if you don't, your posts will likely be ignored by the very people who would be able to help you. No one on this forum is paid. Members give freely of their time and share their knowledge without any compensation other than the feeling of helping a fellow member. But they ask that you respect the few rules they've established to keep this a useful resource for those interested in precious metals. If you ignore these simple rules, these knowledgeable members will likely ignore your posts.

The Moderators come here to talk about refining. Members who do not follow the rules as stated, take away from the goal of this forum, which is “Refiners helping one another”. Whether they realize it or not, they are forcing the Moderators to be policemen when we are really here to discuss refining. We will enforce all of these rules, we will issue warnings and ban members who abuse the privilege, and we will continue to live up to the standard that has been created here.

New members are encouraged to read the Tips for Navigating and Posting on the Forum thread, especially the Guided Tour link, kindly provided by our own lazersteve (there are several links in the Tips thread).

Thank you for your interest. We look forward to a good and healthy exchange with you.